No. 3 Longwood Advances Past No. 6 Liberty In Shootout

Oct 28

FARMVILLE, Va. -- No. 3 Longwood University and No. 6 Liberty University tied 1-1 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Big South Women's Soccer Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting Saturday evening at the Athletics Complex in Farmville, and the Lancers advanced in the shootout 3-0. The Lancers will play No. 2 Radford University next Friday evening at 7 p.m. in the semifinals at Eagle Field in Rock Hill, S.C. It is Longwood's first appearance in the semifinals as a first-year member of the Big South Conference.

Each team had their first shootout PK saved before Longwood made three-straight, while junior reserve keeper Shelby Hall saved the first two Liberty attempts and the third attempt by the visitors hit the crossbar.

Longwood and Liberty were scoreless through the opening 45 minutes with each team registering a shot on goal. Maddie Boone had the attempt for the Flames at 28:56 that was saved by Hall, who had replaced injured senior starting keeper Kyra Byron just 1:23 into the contest. Senior Nikki Glisson had the shot for the Lancers at 37:34 that was saved by Karen Blocker. Boone also had an attempt at 42:17 hit the crossbar, as it remained 0-0 at the intermission.

Longwood got on the scoreboard in the second half at 56:26 when senior captain Lindsey Ottavio was successful on a hard shot from about 25 yards to the upper right corner of the net.

Liberty avoided another goal nearly 20 minutes later with back-to-back saves at 64:30 and 64:34, the latter a team save after consecutive shots from freshmen Olivia Colella and Haylea Witz, and Blocker stopped another shot at 67:47 by sophomore Samantha Phillips. Byron started the second half and made a key stop at 71:23 on a shot by Brittany Aanderud.

The Flames tied it at 1-1 with a late goal by Casey Norris at 84:29, deflecting a ball played from Kelly Henion into the back of the net, and regulation ended soon thereafter.

Longwood managed three shots in the first overtime, but none on target, as the two teams went to a second OT. The Lancers had three more attempts in the second OT, but Blocker saved the first two by Colella (102:32) and sophomore Kelsey McDonald (103:29), respectively, before Ottavio's attempt at 107:52 went wide to force a shootout after 110 minutes.

Longwood went first, and Blocker saved the attempt. Hall re-entered for the shootout and promptly stopped the first attempt by Liberty. Phillips was successful on the second attempt for the Lancers. Hall once again made the save on the second attempt by the Flames. Junior Kelsey Pardue was successful on the third attempt for Longwood. Liberty's third attempt hit the crossbar and bounced back unsuccessful. The Lancers secured the outcome on the fourth attempt, a successful shot by Glisson for the 3-0 advantage in the shootout.

Longwood had an 18-7 advantage in shots, including 8-3 in attempts on goal, and it was a 7-4 edge on corner kicks. Ottavio had four shots, one on goal for her third goal this season, while freshman Alana Mackey had three shots, one on goal. Byron played 66:23 in front of the net for the Lancers with one save and one goal allowed. Hall played 43:37 in front of the net for the hosts with one save and no goals allowed.

Boone and Norris each had two shots, one on goal, for Liberty as Norris scored her first goal of the season, while Henion added the assist. Blocker played the duration (110:00) for the Flames with six saves and one goal allowed.

Longwood is now 13-5-2 on the year, while Liberty ends its season at 11-7-3. As mentioned, the Lancers will be making their first appearance in the Big South Tournament semifinals.